Day 1 …The adventure begins

Our flight out to Seoul via Taipei was scheduled to leave Melbourne at 12.25 am (Wednesday morning) which meant we didn’t need to leave for the airport until after 8.30 pm. The problem with a late flight is that you have the entire day to fill with tasks to make the time go! We managed to keep ourselves busy … with Ian visiting his parents, I did some housework (what a joy), we did a 1000 pc jigsaw whilst chatting with Han, a quick nap for Ian and I did some stitching. Finally it was time to go and because we were parking at the long term car park we left with enough time to be able to park the car and then catch the bus to the airport.

 

Kim and Claire had arrived just before us and so we joined the orderly queue for our luggage drop off … China Airlines are very efficient so we had the luggage dropped off, through security and immigration and sitting airside just after 10.00 pm. So then just the regular time to kill before boarding … which was slightly delayed due to the late arrival of the plane to our gate (pretty sure it was sitting out on the tarmac somewhere having arrived in earlier in the day). 

On board and settled into our seats we were ready to begin the 8+ hour flight to Taipei. We were fed (food at about 1.15 am) and then settled in to do what came naturally to all of us … so movie watching for some, watching downloaded episodes of a TV show, a little reading and eventually some attempt to sleep until we were woken for our second meal! 

 

Our flight arrived in to Taipei on time (despite a slight delay in taking off) and the transfer process was smooth and well signposted. Taipei airport was somewhat of a surprise … larger than I had anticipated, very modern, well laid out and lots of art on the walls. We managed to get to our next departure gate with time for Claire to grab a much needed coffee and then we were boarding and off for the 2 hr flight to Incheon Airport in Seoul.

Another wonderful flight with China Airlines in seats that were more comfortable and yet another meal. The food was lovely (on both flights) … especially the lovely warm rolls! Again a chance to eat, relax, watch something and sleep if the eyes couldn’t stay open! 

And finally … hello Korea! Oh how we have missed you! It is a funny thing that Ian and I travel with the mindset that we are not going back to a place once we have been there … so we always try to maximise our trips overseas. Korea however is different. It is really like coming home! From the time you execute all of the moves to safely and efficiently exit the airport … immigration, luggage collection, a change of clothes for me (in anticipation of the weather outside), grabbing SIM cards for my phone as well as for Kim and for Claire, topping up our T-Money cards to allow us to travel on all of the public transport and then finally heading to the airport to city train (Melbourne … are you listening!) … all went smoothly and soon we were heading towards Seoul.

For those who have not travelled with us to Seoul before … via blogs for earlier trips … a few quick words about Korea. Firstly … it is safe! Despite the recent unrest in relation to the President and the fact that technically the Korean War has never “ended” … Korea is exceptionally safe. The subway is clean and efficient (and heated). Everything is signposted in both Korean and English. People are welcoming and friendly.

The weather is FREEZING! It will take a little getting used to. Outside the temperature currently sits around 0°C and the overnight low is expected to be about -11°C (for my US friends … 32°F to about 12°F). Tomorrow we are expecting a high of -8°C. However … inside we have the heat blaring and so you swelter!  

We have checked into our hotel for the next week … a lovely 3 bedroom apartment located just one block from Insadong. We took the opportunity for a bit of down time … a chance for the young ones to catch some ZZZs and for Ian to do a little work whilst I blogged. We grabbed some snacks at the local Korea Mart … biscuits, crackers, ramen … the essentials basically (remember we have barely eaten in the last 16 hrs).

These photos are from our hotel foyer ... 

Our apartment...

Snacks … and snow

6

Ian and I had a wander while the kids readjusted their body clocks. We headed out to Tapkol Park … a beautiful park filled with historic monuments and in the case of today … the remnants of snow. We then wandered down to the Tourist Information Centre … which was so much smaller than on our last trips but we were able to collect some brochures to give us some ideas as to what we could do in the coming week as well as a couple of brochures about Jeju Island for the Kim and Claire. A wander along the stream to look at some of the lanterns … which will be much better at night so we will have another look when it is dark. We walked through some back streets … along Avenue of Youth and paused to look at the menus of the many restaurants so we could come back for dinner. Then back to the hotel … a change into warmer clothes and waking up the kids so we could go and eat!

 

Then a quick wander around town … just to reintroduce ourselves (and in Claire’s case … be introduced) to Seoul. We saw more evidence of snow on the streets … and are hopeful we may see some falling before we end this trip.